Taking a stroll...

Posted on 17 Oct 2016 @ 12:24am by Lieutenant JG Seras & Captain Nathan Cowell MD

Mission: Prelude; Breakfast at Curmudgeon's
Location: Various
Timeline: MD -1: 1430hrs

Captain Nathan Cowell, in one of the lulls he had experience between senior staff barging into his office, decided to take a walking tour of the Arizona. He had no particular place to go in mind, but rather decided that doing the 'Captain's Walk' would be a find way to get better acquainted with the ship and perhaps even run across some of the people that would call her home.

The first few decks he meandered about weren't overly full of life, mostly crew quarters and office spaces that really didn't get used while the ship was docked. It wasn't until he walked into the Main Shuttlebay that he saw any activity, and it was a rather happening spot to walk in on. Worker Bee ships were busily shuttling cargo in from the long station gantry that was hooked to the space for ease of access. The Old Man trudged silently through the space until he happened upon a woman with a voice that just didn't sound right...

"No no, those crates get stored in the cargo buffers! Put them by the transporter for the time being," Seras called out to a crewman operating a grav sled full of supplies. At first, she didn't notice the arrival of the Captain into the bay, she was more preoccupied with another load being dropped off by a workbee. With a bit of a hop to her step, popped over to the landing pad to give an all clear signal to the workbee pilot, watching as the cargo touched down on the deck plating. With a thumbs up from Seras, the pilot released the delivery and departed, leaving Seras to check the crate details for their contents so she knew where they should be stored.

"More self-sealing stem bolts?" Seras mused aloud as she logged the addition to the inventory list on a PaDD. Seriously, how many self-sealing stem bolts did Commander Toddman think they would need?! For that matter, why was the whole ship's inventory essentially doubled? But it wasn't her place to ask questions, only to get the job done, so she found a place for the new crates and rattled off a storage designation to a crewman.

It was about this time that Seras noticed the aged Officer in red. Her eyes spied the four pips on his collar and she immediately snapped to attention. "Captain," she greeted softly. Right away, she could tell there was something off about this man. She could sense something about him that she had only ever felt around long lived species like Vulcans, but in this man is was so much more, almost timeless... "You are old," she blurted out with a curious tilt of her head. The synthesized tone of her voice was fairly neutral, with nothing to indicate that she meant harm with her words, only that she was stating a curious observation.

"No shit," Nathan grumbled, "And you're trying to get inside my head... I can feel it. I suggest you stop before you find a few centuries worth of hell you weren't bargaining for."

The Captain walked up to the woman and without so much as a word of explanation grabbed her by the shoulder and then ran a very gnarled but practiced hand over the woman's throat. The way in which he did so spoke volumes for the kind of medical knowledge he possessed, given that he found the implant almost immediately and could almost predict the exact outline of it.

"Figured that was what it was. The lumpy head gives you away. Surprised you let them stick a squawk box in you... but I suppose it has its uses," Capt. Cowell said as he let the woman go as abruptly as he had grabbed her. He turned and examined the crate the woman had been marveling over.

"How much more you got coming in?" the Old Man asked.

"Apologies, sir, I wasn't trying to be rude-" Seras started to reply, stopping herself when he walked right up to her and grabbed her, feeling her neck for her vocal synthesizer. Squawk box? She could only conclude he meant her synthesizer since that was what his fingers were looking for. And her head looked lumpy? Well that was a somewhat withering opinion... "On me, sir, not in me; I chose not to take the upgraded tech that is entirely internal," she corrected softly. "And without it, I wouldn't be able to tell you that we've got at least 3 more flats of supplies coming in. Unless you want me back in your head, of course..." she continued with a hint of amusement.

"If you value your sanity, I'd say keep your mind to yourself. If not..." the Captain shrugged, "Seems Toddman followed my order to the letter. Nice to see people taking this trip seriously."

"Any intrusion you felt was not intentional," Seras informed him, though she did take his warning to heart and made a mental note to be cautious around him. She tugged at her uniform collar to readjust how the external processor component of her vocal synthesizer sat against her neck. "If I may ask, sir, why are we taking on so much cargo?" Seras asked.

"We're going to need it," Nathan replied bluntly, "Ship went to hell and back the last time she went to the Delta Quadrant. Not about to go back there a second time under geared with my pants around my ankles. Always said it's a damn sight better to have and not need than need and not have. Best advice anyone can get. You might hate it just now, but when you're up to your ass in repairs you'll be glad you have all them extra supplies you're fighting to find room for just now."

"I never said I hated it, I was just wondering; it's a lot of cargo, and I didn't know where we were going until you said so just now," Seras replied. The amount of cargo made sense now that she knew their destination. But now something else was bothering her. "Sir, 'last time'? This ship is brand new, it hasn't even left the Sol system yet," she said, hoping he might offer an explanation since she didn't know the history of the Arizona.

"She used to be a Prometheus-class ship. You're standing on the second ship to bear the name," the Old man said, looking over at her, "The old boat didn't make it back in one piece. Actually left the top saucer section behind... and a lot of good people with it..."

"I'm sorry to hear that. My condolences," Seras offered with a respectful nod of her head. "Was there something you needed, Captain? Or may I go back to my duties?" she asked, uncertain what to say at this point. It seemed like he did need something, otherwise why was he here, but she certainly wasn't going diving into his brain pan to find out what.

"Need? Nope, don't need anything. Just doing the traditional walk of the boat before it sets sail. You go on back to what you were doing, young lady," the Captain said as he strolled back out of the compartment the same way he'd come in.

Seras watched him curiously as he walked out, then shrugged and continued on with her business. What an odd man! But she didn't have time to dwell on it; she had more supply shipments to receive and three Cargo Bays to reorganize before the day was done...